Leave Room in Our Hearts

In the recent months, there had been a continuous spate of cat abuse incidents. The victims suffered terrible torture and even death. I feel indignant because these animals, whether cats or dogs or some other kind, have equal rights as humans in owning their ‘rightful’ place on this earth. And if the animal had been of any form of annoyance, what gives the abuser the authority to dispense such cruel punishment? The cases also show how sick the abuser is mentally, to take it out on an animal which is unable to fight back as an equal being. So what if one is affluent when the soul is lacking in compassion towards animals? One can also look ‘ok on the outside’ but behind closed doors, darkness lurks and he lashes out in anger towards another being.

First to hit the news was David Hooi Yin Weng, a serial cat abuser. He was arrested on 27 June 2006 for torturing a four-month-old cat until its eyes swelled and one of its teeth broke. A few months before his arrest, he was jailed three months for abusing a kitten which had to be put down. For his recent crime, he was originally sentenced to three months in prison. As there is a high likelihood that Hooi would continue to seek out cats in future and with the public outcry for a heavier punishment, he was later given the maximum one year’s jail.

In August 2006, 28-year-old Wong Geng Thong was jailed for eight weeks for cat abuse. He was caught on camera grabbing a cat by the neck and repeatedly bashing its body against a wall in a multi-storey carpark in Kallang. He strangled 10 cats to death in a similar manner.

Earlier this month over three weeks, one cat after another showed up dead in Jurong. All in, 18 cat carcasses were found. After the killings were reported by the media, they have stopped for now.

Two weeks back, I read of another case where a four-month-old kitten was thrown down a block in Hougang. Cats don't have nine lives so of course, the kitten didn’t survive the fall. Last week, another black kitten was found with his eyeball pierced. Such cold-bloodedness.

This week on Wednesday, a white kitten was found dyed completely in permanent orange colour. This morning, I came across a headline in the New Paper that a man had been caught on film kicking a cat around like a football.

What kind of person would commit these brutal acts?

Psychiatrists who were interviewed said it would be someone who enjoys the feeling of power and because of that, he can be expected to do it again. They get a lot of thrill from killing and getting away with it. Those who kill small animals in this manner are also likely to have experienced violence during childhood.

“In future, they can transfer the violence towards people, especially children who are helpless.”

Cat lovers and volunteers have banded together, coming from all over Singapore to carry out night patrols to catch the cat killers of Bedok and Kallang. They have swung into action once again to nap the Jurong cat killer.

Is it sheer coincidence that there has been a continual spate of cat abuse? My fear is that Hooi’s heavier sentence and the capture of Wong have ‘spurred’ some other sick individuals to take it out on stray cats as a “Catch me if you can” challenge to the authorities and the cat grassroots activists. The photos that came with the media coverage were so gruesome. My blood boils each time I read of an abuse or a killing. Some suffered tragic deaths while others are permanently scarred/disfigured for life.

I look at Skoda and Braun. Their fellow kind roam the streets and have to do with scraps, fend for themselves (eg dogs, naughty children, busy traffic), find a place to take cover/rest and now, they have to learn immediately to be street-wise and keep a distance from HUMAN BEINGS.

Town councils are also hot on the heels of these stray cats. There have been mass culling exercises of neutered strays in the Tampines and Ang Mo Kio areas. You may ask, "Why?" Well, cats are listed as pests under some AVA list. This is also why we are disallowed to keep cats as pets in HDB. Take a good look around your neighbourhood. Aren't there less stray cats nowadays? Where have they gone to?

I pray for the killings and the abuses to cease and for the streets to be safe again for strays which otherwise have nowhere else to turn to.